


Pride of Lions

by SweetHell



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Instincts, Animal Traits, Blink And You Miss It Slash, Feral Behavior, Leona Gets Territorial, Licking, M/M, Pack Bonding, Pack Building, Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness, Purring, a lot of growling and nuzzling involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:33:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetHell/pseuds/SweetHell
Summary: That lions are territorial creatures is not a secret for anyone.That much, at least, should be of common knowledge, even outside the Kingdom of Afterglow Savanna.Taking control of the Savanaclaw Dorm was not easy, but Leona fought hard to conquer his space, his little reign away from his brother’s control, away from his brother’sterritory. He fought hard to be able to finallybreathe.It's really too bad that, it turns out, territory is not the only thing a lion needs to survive.
Relationships: Leona Kingscholar/Ruggie Bucchi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 230





	Pride of Lions

**Author's Note:**

> Pride of Lions:It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion pride consists of a few adult males, related females and cubs, built around the protection of an adult Alpha male.

That lions are territorial creatures is not a secret for anyone.  
That much, at least, should be of common knowledge, even outside the Kingdom of Afterglow Savanna.  
Taking control of the Savanaclaw Dorm was not easy, but Leona fought hard to conquer his space, his little reign away from his brother’s control, away from his brother’s _territory_. He fought hard to be able to finally breathe.  
It can’t be forever, of course, he knows that well enough, but as long as he is here, it will have to do.  
He yawns, hidden between the bushes, basking on the warmth of the greenhouse, lulled by its relaxing silence, after hours and hours of the usual chaos at school.  
School would be so much better without all the tedious ruckus on repeat.  
And yet, it’s still better than being home.  
There is no living on the King’s shadow, here, no malicious whisper about his unique magic, on his undefeated destruction. There is no annoying little pup following his every step, ruining his naps with those grabby, chubby hands. No female will scoff at him, here, there is no Queen smirking teasingly, looking at him, understanding him like his brother never could.  
Here, he is his own King.  
Here, he is Savanaclaw’s Head.  
And yet, here, he has no pride anymore.  
It would be frustrating, really, if only he’d allow himself to think about that. After all, it's a gaining one to lose another kind of thing, isn't it?  
Gaining territory just to lose family. Tsk, not everybody can be as lucky as Farena and having them all, he guesses.  
Leona is intelligent enough to know it doesn’t really matter, though. This is just school, not life, and in less than one o two years he will eventually have to go back to his country, living under his brother’s rule, condemned by his own birth to submit for the sake of their pride, of their family.  
Except, his instincts are not quite so fond of this logic.  
They make him feel hollow, incomplete.  
What good does it to him to have gained a territory to rule, even now, if he doesn’t have a pride?  
He hates how his own instincts make him feel the longing for those very things that had made him feel so trapped back home, so looked upon for being unnecessary…but he knows how to ignore them, how to forget that irritating itch running under his skin. He’s not an animal, after all, even if he’s not fully human either.  
And so, he buries everything deep inside with a tired yawn, in the calming warmth of the greenhouse. None of that will disturb his nap, he decides, stretching on the glass.  
There is no point in worrying about an itch that can’t be scratched anyway.  
Leona yawns, again, lazily swinging his tail, before he can finally start drifting into sleep.  


***

  
Except, something isn’t quite alright, it seems, because it can’t be that long before he wakes up again, too alert to feel sleepy anymore. It’s annoying, but he can’t help it, even if he’s not even sure what has woken him up in the first place.  
Sleep is still heavy on his brain, like a blanket of fog, but his body is awake and ready, as his ears flicker, picking up something in the apparently silent greenhouse.  
It’s familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Far enough not to be immediately clear but not so much to go ignored. It does not even feel like a real sound, per se, but more like a vibration echoing on the back of his mind, a buzzing signal that’s it’s too far for him to know how to decipher it yet.  
Leona concentrates on that echo, while his tail's swings become fiercer, irritated. This is better be good, he thinks, annoyed, for him to skip his afternoon nap.  
And then, something just _clicks_ , making everything falling into place.  
It clicks and Leona is on his feet before he can even think of getting up, marching towards the entrance of the greenhouse, since that’s the direction from where the vibration of Ruggie’s distressed whimpers is getting clearer, closer.  
This distress sounds nothing like fear or pain. These whimpers are soft, almost impossible to pick up without a decent pair of ears, and _definitely_ impossible to hear for regular humans. And yet they keep getting louder as he gets closer, reverberating, and it’s almost impossible for Leona to ignore the calling.  
Ruggie is saying something that sounds both exasperated and defensive, but Leona is already too attuned to his other communication signals to care much about the regular conversation happening. Not that he would have cared anyway, since now he can see the back of the other person. All he can focus on are those little whimpers of discomfort and nervousness, silent and yet so loud to his ears. Even Ruggie’s posture screams of distress, with how low his ears are hanging, twitching slightly on his fluffy hair.  
Leona scowls.  
He just wants those upsetting vibrations to _stop_.  
They ignite something he would have much preferred could stay hidden, but it’s already too late, it seems.  
That pitiful, almost silent sound is messing with his instinct, and Leona is too lazy to try stopping himself now. He has never been a fan of the whole "just bear with it" kind of situation, and so he steps in.  
He gets between Ruggie and the object of his distress in nothing but seconds, keeping himself under wind and unseen, but with a growl spilling out his throat at the last moment, before he can think better of it. He uses that brief distraction to grab Rook Hunt’s hand and forcibly remove it from his hyena’s tail. He feels his own face scrunching up in distaste, as he shows the other his fangs in warning. Rook’s scent is feeble but it still lingering on Ruggie’s fur, creating a disgusting mix he can't wait to get rid of.  
Somewhere, in his instinct driven brain, he knows it’s never wise to let out too much in front of that hunting-obsessed bastard, but at least the whimpering finally stops when he puts himself in between the other two.  
“Oh? If it isn’t the very _Roi de Lions_ we were talking about… _Bonjour_!”, Rook smirks, clearly amused by the situation, and yet his eyes stay clear, cold, and interested, noticing, without doubt, how flat on his head Leona's ears are and how the Savanaclaw Prefect is still very much intent on crushing one of his hand.  
Leona hates the look on Rook's face almost as much as he hates his poisonous, flowery scent. It’s the look of another predator and the only idea of being considered a prey is enough for him to let out another low, threatening growl.  
“You better fuck off.”, is all he can brings himself to articulate, fighting to lessen the growl still rumbling in his chest. Talking when you're posturing and showing your fangs is also much more difficult than one can imagine. It's infuriating. If he could just tear off his throat, now, wouldn't that be quicker than useless posturing? But he is not a beast, after all, not completely, anyway. And so he also releases the other's hand, hoping that Rook will know how much self-control that little gesture took out of him, in the current predicament. “Before I decide to turn you into sand for disturbing my sleep.”  
“ _Mon Dieu_ , someone woke up on the wrong side of bed, didn’t he?”, Rook Hunt chuckles, delighted, but his cold eyes are still indulging on Ruggie, who is observing the scene, silent but alert, from behind his Prefect's back. Leona is of course well aware he fucked up, letting Rook seeing this much, but he can barely resist the temptation of putting himself even more physically in between the two of them. Tsk. The damage is done already. “It’s rare to see you so lively. I love when my preys are this reactive…! So, how about you try keeping this up for when I have my arrows on me, would you, _Roi de Leons_? _Oui? __C’est magnifique_!”  
Leona’s growl goes from mildly threatening to promising a heavy mauling in 0.2 seconds.  
How come that this school is full of stupid, malicious bastards?  
“Leona-san, Leona-san! I bought your lunch.”, Ruggie can probably feel how tense he still is and finally decides to intervene before Leona lets loose something he probably shouldn’t. Forget repeating a year, if he doesn't calm down the College would directly expel him. The hyena puts a hand on his arm, warily, like he fully expects Leona to shrug off his touch. When that doesn’t happen, he relaxes a bit, taking a step in direction of the greenhouse and tugging his arm. “Let’s go before it gets cold.”  
Mpf.  
He moves along, letting the little hyena directing their steps, but he can’t bring himself to give his back to Rook just yet, since the blonde is still smiling at them like nothing happened.  
“Ah, don’t worry about me, I’ll see you two later, won’t I?”, the hunter says, without bothering to pretend he is not studying them, evaluating the weakness he has sniffed out this time. He tries to hide it, smiling, but even that comes off somewhat vicious, calculating. Excited. Like a shark sniffing blood in the water. Leona really wants to rip it off his face with his claws. “I got what I wanted anyway, didn’t I? I’ll see you in class, Roi du Lions! To the next time, Monsieur Dandelion!”  
Leona hopes they are now far away enough for Rook not to have noticed how he bares his fangs again at this one, but given how sharp the other’s eyes are, that’s probably just his wishful thinking.  


***

  
They go back to where Leona was napping, just before the whole stupid thing, and neither of them says anything for a long while, as they take out the lunch Ruggie - who is still watching him with a confused look on his face - brought back from the cafeteria.  
Usually, that would have been a perfect situation.  
Food, silence and the sweet possibility of a nap before the next period of class.  
But now, Leona still feels too raw and exposed, too ready to bare his fangs over nothing to be fully comfortable or for being in the mood for food. The itch is acting up again and it’s driving him insane, even now that the little incident seems closed. Honestly, not even he is sure about what all that was about. He just wanted the distress to stop. He has no idea why his instincts were so decisive about it. Putting himself between Ruggie and Rook? What he is now, Prince fucking Charming? What a laugh.  
He has no idea of the reason he felt so protective over such a little thing, when he knows Ruggie is fully able to take care of himself, slightly upset or not.  
Last time that something similar happened was years ago. That incident is still burned in his memory like it happened yesterday, but he doesn’t like to think about it too much. Some idiot tried to kidnap Cheka from the royal garden he was playing in, not thinking Leona could be hidden nearby, trying to escape the boy’s attention but still able to pick up the small cries of fear of the pup. He remembers how his body almost acted on its own, instinctively putting himself between his nephew and the threat. The rest is a red blur of anger and bloodlust.  
He vaguely remembers Farena having to forcefully tear him off the man, after, but not much more.  
The smell of blood on his hands, though, he remembers it well.  
As he remembers the burning need to protect such a vulnerable part of his pride.  
He stares at Ruggie, at those clear eyes and his mischievous grin. Is it even possible for a hyena like Ruggie to be part of the pride of a lion? Could that even be called a pride anymore? This only thought of it is almost enough to make him laugh. It’s absurd.  
Leona almost killed him no more than few weeks ago, using on him his unique magic. Almost turning him into sand for a whim of rage, leaving him crying and whimpering while his magic slowly consumed him. Ruggie still has scars where his skin split, Leona sees them all the time.  
And yet. And yet.  
He heard such a small sound and reacted so strongly. What if, instead of nervousness, he had heard a yelp of pain? A cry of fear?  
He tries to picture it, just for a moment, but it's even too easy, given what happened when he overblotted.  
And so, he also tries to picture it with someone else doing the threating. Maybe Rook, shooting his damn arrows at Ruggie with an amused smile on his fair lips.  
“…Leona-san? Could you please stop looking at me like I’m your meal? I bought you the special meat set, stop growling at me.”, Ruggie sighs, just as Leona finishes picturing him, tail between his legs and flattened ears, whimpering in pain and fear on the ground.  
It ends up sounding too much real, actually, since Leona remembers how pitiful he sounded as King’s Roar was turning him into sand, stealing his breath from his lungs and corrupting, slowly fracturing his body. So real that he ends up more on edge than before.  
“Oi, Leona-san? Are you having an open eye nightmare?”  
Before he can stop himself, he leans towards the little hyena, pushing him with his back on the grass and blocking him there with his own body. Like a predator would block his prey before devouring it actually.  
Ruggie yelps in surprise and his pulse quickens noticeably, but he doesn’t start smelling like fear. Instead he just looks at him, startled, yes, but without any other sign of distress. He just lays there, perfectly still for him, if not for the light, questioning twitching of his ears. Rook just had to take his tails for him to feel discomfort, and yet, even if the position they are now is so much more vulnerable and submissive, Ruggie seems trusting him enough to bare his throat too.  
It pleases something inside him he didn’t know he needed.  
Ruggie may not be fit for a pride of lion, maybe, but he is still Leona’s, he realizes. He may be not a lion, but he's pride. He's his, and Ruggie knows that already. Being a hyena, there is no way he just casually bared his throat that way by mistake.  
Lions are territorial creatures, after all, but so are hyenas.  
They may be different species, but their instinct is similar…and what Ruggie just offered, Leona _craves_.  
Somewhere from the part of his brain that usually uses logic thinking, he notices he is panting slightly, and that he is still growling, a low and deep sound, from inside his chest. Territorial. Possessive. Craving. His body feels warm and his mind is dizzy, confused.  
He needs this to stabilize himself. To settle down.  
And Ruggie, still bared and slightly flushed under his body, is offering him a solution. And he is still a hyena, but he is also Leona’s, now, so Leona greets him like a lion would for another companion of his pride, gently nuzzling his forehead, face and bared neck. Ruggie’s breath hitches at the first contact, but he accepts the gesture, going from somewhat calm to completely limp and relaxed under that attention and even going as far as answering with a similar rubbing, letting their scent mix.  
Leona feels drunk and content like he hasn’t been for a while, now, as the nuzzling goes to fill that hollow part of himself longing for a pride, for companionship. In fact, he is so out of it, so deprived, that he goes as far as licking a long, wet stripe on Ruggie’s neck, while his soft growling goes down to settle in a low purring that has the hyena’s blue eyes go wide in absolute bafflement, as a startled but pleased meowl escape his parted lips.  
They stay like this for a while, scenting, as the animal part of them settles down, fulfilled.  
“I had no idea you could purr, Leona-san.”, is of course the first thing that Ruggie says, snickering at him, as he starts squirming under him. “ _Shishishi_ , that’s so cool.”  
“Shut up.”, Leona answers, as he slowly starts to take control over himself again, feeling content and way too lazy to get up yet. So, he simply rolls away and lies on the grass, with his head on Ruggie’s belly. Then he closes his eyes, yawning. “I had no idea you could mewl so pathetically either.”  
He does not need to open his eyes to know that the other probably flushed a pretty shade of red.  
“I remember nothing of the sort.”, he hisses, his tail flickering nervously somewhere in the grass.  
“Well, I do.”, Leona answers instead, resting comfortably on him, “How cute of you.”  
Ruggie sighs, but it leaves it be, in the end. He starts squirming again, earning a little warning growl that he gracefully ignores, sitting up again, with his back leaning on a tree. He does not try to make Leona move, leaving him to use his lap as a pillow. It feels right.  
“You’re not actually going to claw Rook’s face out, are you?”, Ruggie asks after few seconds, successfully ruining the mood. Leona opens his eyes again, displeased. There are green leaves between the little hyena’s mussed hair, but Leona decide to keep it to himself out of pettiness.  
“Depends.”, he yawns, hoping the new shift in their interaction will keep Ruggie distracted enough to forget about the next period of class. “Probably will have to, knowing that grabby bastard. I bet he’s gonna tail you like a leech, now.”  
His tail thumbs the ground in displeasure.  
Should he get a few second years to keep an eye out for him during classes? Yeah, he probably should.  
He will have to talk with Vil too, trying to see if he has a minimum of control over that crazy creep. Maybe blackmailing him into making his vice back the fuck off.  
“Just try not to get expelled, Leona-san.”, Ruggie snickers like the hyena he is, petting his ears without a second of hesitation. Whatever. It feels kinda nice.  
“Yeah, yeah.”, he scoffs as he snuggles closer, basking on the other’s familiar scent, and let his eyes close again, drifting once again into sleep, lulled by the comfort of their mixed scents.__

____

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
> Feel free to drop a comment or come scream with me about the game on twitter, I'm SweetHell_ao3!


End file.
